KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Zulema Blair

Medgar Evers College, The City University of New York

Dr. Zulema Blair held the position of Director of the Freshman Year Program until January 2017 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York (CUNY). She was the first female Chair of the Department of Public Administration at Medgar Evers College (MEC) and was the youngest in CUNY at the time she served. She was the coordinator of the American Democracy Project, a national organization that is committed to producing graduates who understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy civically and politically engaged graduates. She also served as Deputy Director of the DuBouis Bunche Center for Public Policy and coordinator of the American Democracy Project where she led the faculty to increase voter registration, civic engagement, and voter turnout throughout the Central Brooklyn community.

Her expertise includes Analysis of Social Class, Political Behavior, Elections, Civic Engagement, Race and Crime, Redistricting, and Research Methodology. Her book, Participation at the Margins: Is it Race or Class?, investigates the theories put forth by students of political participation and goes a step further to analyze voters by social class. It speaks to the huge divide within the Black community between the social classes and surprisingly reveals which least expected populations are more likely to vote in presidential elections when compared to other racial and income groups. She has also written on Black mayoral leadership in medium-sized cities, how low-income populations should be defined, and the benefits of civic engagement to colleges of access.

As a result, she has worked and organized a number of forums and has provided written analyses and recommendations to community leaders. Dr. Blair received her PhD in Political Science from Binghamton University as well as an MPA. She is also the proud mother of two.